A redaction of the transcript from the TV show, 6:45 PM, December. 26, 2013

By Jerome S. Kaufman

Host – Shannon Breen with her usual excellent job.

Charles Krauthammer – Internationally syndicated columnist

Stephen F. Hayes – Senior columnist, The Weekly Standard

Nina Easton – Senior editor and columnist for Fortune Magazine

The lead-in TV clip to the show was a statement by Obama’s chief designated prevaricator, Susan Rice, who, for her supreme loyalty to Obama and personal sacrifice giving patently false testimony concerning BenghaziGate, has been awarded the critical role of United States National Security Advisor.

Rice did exemplary work obscuring the role of Obama and then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the awful fiasco where you may remember (Hopefully at the 2016 election) Clinton stated, “What different does it make” referring to the deaths of a US ambassador and 3 other staunch American patriots in the line of duty!

In the clip Susan Rice claimed that Obama’s foreign policies had not been a disaster at all and went on to have the temerity (read “chutzpa) to declare the Arab Palestinian/Israeli and Syrian efforts as high points of the Obama administration’s successes! The Panel had no difficulty using her statements as a launching pad for their own evaluation.

Steve Hayes: “Obama’s foreign policy is a disaster. The problem with President Obama’s foreign policy is that there is no foreign policy. It is an ad hoc policy with decisions made moment to moment. Our allies and our enemies have no idea what he is doing and have no faith in whatever it may be. Furthermore, there is no follow-up after the campaign speech, as usual. Consequently we are in real trouble for the next 3 years of his administration.

Shannon Breen: According to a new Pew poll, 53% of Americans see the United States as less powerful and with a less important role in the world than we had a decade ago. This is the worst evaluation since Pew began that question in 1974.

Nina Easton: This is especially true in the Middle East. The most under reported story affecting our own security is the explosion of the presence and influence of Al Qaeda and the implosion of Iraq – the country that cost us 4500 American lives! This administration thought they could deal with Al Qaeda simply by killing Bin Laden and then using drones and not getting involved beyond that. The fact is that Al Qaeda is on the rise throughout North Africa, flourishing in Syria as a result of our not helping the rebels against Assad while Iraq has become a client state of Iran.

Furthermore, Al Qaeda is now staging 30-40 suicide bombings per month in Iraq. We spent 10 years in Iraq trying to save the country and Obama left leaving no US troops in place to safe guard our interests. The result – Iraq is on the brink of disappearing as an independent nation.

Shannon Breen: Afghanistan is another hot spot in which Obama’s vacillating policies with President Karzai have weakened our power. What will happen in 2014 remains to be seen.

Charles Krauthammer:

Let’s start by answering some of the data points that Susan Rice presented in the video clip.

In Egypt Obama gave the heralded Cairo speech announcing his “leading from behind” policy. It was really a foretelling of the policy of retreat.

Now if we look at Egypt, we have managed to make everybody hate us! The Brotherhood, the Religious, the Secular arm and the Secular opposition. That is quite a feat for one brief administration.

In Libya where Obama again led from behind, he left a disaster which has become another staging center for Al Qaeda and where we saw the resultant shameful Benghazi massacre.

In West Africa, Al Qaeda would now be in control if it had not been for the French who interceded in their and our behalf despite the opposition and deliberate lack of participation by Obama.

As Nina (Easton) indicated, in the Middle East, we now have Iraq as a client state of Iran and Obama boasted in his year-end press conference about “our success in ending the war in Iraq.” In fact, Obama abandoned Iraq. It was a won war until his intervention. The level of violence was historically low. The civil war had ended. Al Qaeda was not only defeated but humiliated when the Sunni Muslims joined with Infidels (meaning us) in defeating Al Qaeda, a fellow Muslim entity. Now Al Qaeda is revived. It controls wide swaths of Iraq and Syria and forced its way into the Middle East beyond their wildest expectations.

One other of Susan Rice’s data points – Obama has somehow managed the miracle of uniting the Gulf State Arabs, Saudi Arabia and Israel in their mutual astonishment at Obama’s conceding the nuclear bomb to virtually unfettered Iranian development. This policy shift was sprung upon them by Obama leaving the Gulf States with no information and virtually defenseless. At least, the Israelis are still able to defend themselves. (Although, John Kerry with Obama’s encouragement, is working diligently to destroy that ability)

Because of all of the above everyone in the Middle East is wondering where the United States really is? Obama’s policy of retreat has allowed the bad guys to fill the vacuum. What catastrophic lead from behind is next?

(On a personal note: Again, all these illustrious speakers refer to Obama as if he were some kind of inept nincompoop. I wish they would spend some time with my hero, Dinesh D’Sousa, who pegged Obama, a long time ago, not as a nincompoop but a deliberate destroyer of the US both internationally and domestically — a genuine Manchurian Candidate who knows exactly what he is doing.)